This book presents an Ultrafast Low-Energy Electron Diffraction (ULEED) system that reveals ultrafast structural changes on the atomic scale. The achievable temporal resolution in the low-energy regime is improved by several orders of magnitude and has enabled the melting of a highly-sensitive, molecularly thin layer of a polymer crystal to be resolved for the first time. This new experimental approach permits time-resolved structural investigations of systems that were previously partially or totally inaccessible, including surfaces, interfaces and atomically thin films. It will be of fundamental importance for understanding the properties of nanomaterials so as to tailor their properties.

The third generation of solar cells includes those based on semiconductor quantum dots. This sophisticated technology applies nanotechnology and quantum mechanics theory to enhance the performance of ordinary solar cells. Although a practical application of quantum dot solar cells has yet to be achieved, a large number of theoretical calculations and experimental studies have confirmed the potential for meeting the requirement for ultra-high conversion efficiency. In this book, high-profile scientists have contributed tutorial chapters that outline the methods used in and the results of various quantum dot solar cell designs, including quantum dot intermediate band solar cells, hot electron quantum dot solar cells, quantum-dot sensitized solar cells, colloidal quantum dot solar cells, hybrid polymer-quantum dot solar cells, and MEG quantum dot solar cells. Both theoretical and experimental approaches are described. Quantum Dot Solar Cells helps to connect the fundamental laws of physics and the chemistry of materials with advances in device design and performance. The book can be recommended for a broad audience of chemists, electrical engineers, and materials scientists, and is suitable for use in courses on materials and device design for advanced and future optoelectronics.

Structural phase transitions, mechanical deformations, and the embryonic stages of melting and crystallization are examples of phenomena that can now be imaged in unprecedented structural detail with high spatial resolution, and ten orders of magnitude as fast as hitherto. No monograph in existence attempts to cover the revolutionary dimensions that EM in its various modes of operation nowadays makes possible. The authors of this book chart these developments, and also compare the merits of coherent electron waves with those of synchrotron radiation. They judge it prudent to recall some important basic procedural and theoretical aspects of imaging and diffraction so that the reader may better comprehend the significance of the new vistas and applications now afoot. This book is not a vade mecum - numerous other texts are available for the practitioner for that purpose.

Advances in Imaging & Electron Physics merges two long-running serials—Advances in Electronics & Electron Physics and Advances in Optical & Electron Microscopy. The series features extended articles on the physics of electron devices (especially semiconductor devices), particle optics at high and low energies, microlithography, image science, and digital image processing, electromagnetic wave propagation, electron microscopy, and the computing methods used in all these domains. - Contains contributions from leading authorities on the subject matter - Informs and updates on all the latest developments in the field of imaging and electron physics - Provides practitioners interested in microscopy, optics, image processing, mathematical morphology, electromagnetic fields, electron, and ion emission with a valuable resource - Features extended articles on the physics of electron devices (especially semiconductor devices), particle optics at high and low energies, microlithography, image science. and digital image processing